NA approves proposal to amend Public Tenders Law No. 49/2016 – MPs voice concern

This news has been read 12306 times!

KUWAIT CITY, May 15: The National Assembly has approved the proposal to amend Public Tenders Law No. 49/2016 which grants 15 percent priority to national products and services, response to the Amiri speech, and the bill on regulating the insurance sector with 34 votes in favor and 13 votes against.

During Wednesday’s session, MPs voiced concern over the idea of putting the insurance sector under the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). They argued that the authority is not the appropriate entity to manage such sector considering the heavy load – 800,000 insurance contracts.

They suggested forming an independent authority under the direct management of the Ministry of Commerce or transferring the sector to the Central Bank of Kuwait. They added this sector requires an independent authority due to the size of its operations and financial transactions.

Although the bill covers the rights of insured individuals, the MPs were not satisfied as some of them stressed the need to refer the bill back to the concerned parliamentary committee for further amendments.

However, MP Ahmed Al-Fadel called for approval of the bill in its first reading due to its importance and then to correct all points of contention before the second reading.

On the other hand, Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudan said the insurance sector witnessed an exponential growth in the last three years – KD 9 billion in 2016, KD11.6 billion in 2017 and KD13.1 billion in 2018. Therefore, he emphasized the need for a new insurance law; considering the insurance sector is now the second largest, after the banking sector.

He pointed out that since the current law is 85 years old and the last amendment was in 1981, insurance companies are taking advantage of legislative loopholes; hence, the need for a new law

By Ahmed Al-Naqeeb Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 12306 times!